Her Story
About Cynthia
I serve as a board-certified chaplain at the VA, where I have been working for over 7 years providing spiritual and pastoral care to veterans. My journey into chaplaincy began with an internship at the VA in 2013-2014, and I tell people that if anyone wants to be a chaplain, the VA is the best place to come because you see and hear everything. I specialize in working with women veterans, which became my passion after encountering so many women veterans during my internship and learning about the issues they were going through. Many of their experiences resonated with things I had gone through myself, which drove me to focus my doctoral dissertation on the need for spiritual and pastoral care for women veterans. When the VA's women's clinic requested a chaplain specifically for women, I was called back, and it happened exactly as I had hoped. I lead spirituality groups tailored to veterans' needs, including programs like 'What's Love Got to Do With It?' which focuses on self-love for women veterans. I work extensively with women who have experienced military sexual trauma (MST), many of whom are in such a state that they don't want to come into the main building, so we have a separate women's clinic building for them. I am currently enrolled in the CAVE program, pursuing a specialty in mental health chaplaincy, because I feel I do my best work in mental health given the patients I see, including women with MST and other complex issues. Beyond the VA, I serve as administrator for the Samaritan Care CPE Program through the National Baptist Conference, and I am active in my church's Mental Health and Wellness Ministry, where we organize events on grief care, self-care days with exercise, mindfulness, and massages. Every day I pray that I continue to do God's work and His will, because this is what I've been called to do, and I want to make sure I'm doing it well.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Cynthia
01What do you attribute your success to?
There's only one, and that's who called me, and that's God. You know, to doing what I've been called to do. A lot of times people say many are called, few are chosen, but I believe every day I pray that I continue to do God's work and His will. So this is His work, and this is His will for me to do. I want to make sure I'm doing it, and doing it well.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Do what you like, not what you... you know, just don't... I see a lot of people are so depressed, and I gotta go to work, I don't want to do what I'm doing, so make sure you're doing something that you truly enjoy. If that means going to school and getting the education you need to do that job, it's okay. I remember when my pastor told us, you're saying that God has called you as a minister. He says, I'm an attorney, but I went to school to be an attorney, so if you want to be a minister, you need to go to school, and that's what we did. That's what pushed me into finishing my undergrad, pushed me into getting my Master's of Divinity, and then going right in to get my Doctor of Ministry.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
When you do it, do it well, and do it for God, and not for yourself. Make sure you get the education you need, first of all, because we have a lot of people that say they could do it, but not anymore. Nowadays, you have to have all this education, so get what you need. And make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Not for the money, but for the right reasons. You want to do it for the right reasons, you know, because a lot of times people do... even be a pastor of a church because it pays X amount of dollars. That's not why you're there. Also, if you become a chaplain, find out what your specialty is. What is it that you see that you do the best in. So I feel like I do the best in mental health because of the patients that I see, even the women, being MST, and then other things on top of that.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The opportunities are that being at the VA, I can go anywhere, transfer if there's a position available. The one thing that I like is that, being a chaplain, they like for you to do a specialty. We have a program here where I am in a program called CAVE, and my specialty is mental health. So I'll be a chaplain with a specialty in mental health. We have another chaplain who has a specialty in grief, because she does hospice and hospice care and nursing home care. So, it's good for anybody to become a chaplain, but also find out what your specialty is. What is it that you see that you do the best in. So I feel like I do the best in mental health because of the patients that I see, even the women, being MST, and then other things on top of that. It's important to let people know that we're here, because at one time there were never women chaplains. There's several of us now. I actually ran into a woman who said, it's my first time ever seeing a female chaplain.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The big word, and I know it's coming from the Bible, is love, loving one another, taking care of each other. You know, it's not being done, and it needs to be. Loving your neighbor as you love yourself. I believe in that. You know, taking care of each other. That's important.
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